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Copyright © 2012 by Charles Duhigg
1 The habiT Loop H w H W W k
cHapter summary When you woke up this morning, what did you do rst? Did you hop in the shower, check your email, or grab a donut rom the kitchen counter? Did you tie the let or right shoe rst? Did you choose a salad or hamburger or lunch? When you got home, did you put on your sneakers and go or a run, or eat dinner in ront o the TV? Most o the choices we make each day may eel like the products o well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. This chapter explains why habits exist, and how they work. At the core o every habitual pattern is a habit loop. The habit loop can be broken down into three basic steps. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode. The cue can be internal, such as a eeling or thought, or external, such as a time o day or the company o certain people (which is why it’s easier to exercise among our running buddies, but harder to study when our riends are in the library). The second part o the habit loop is the routine, the behavior that leads to the reward. The routine can be physical (eating a donut), cognitive (“remember or the test”), or emotional (“I always eel anxious in math class”). The third part is the reward. Not surprisingly, the reward can also be physical (sugar!), cognitive (“that’s really interesting”), or emotional (“I always eel relaxed in ront o the TV.”). The reward determines i a particular habit loop is worth remembering. In the habit loop illustrated below, a mouse learns to automatically run through a maze ater hearing a click, because the habit has become ingrained through a chocolaty reward. Routine
Reward
Cue
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1 The habiT Loop H w H W W k
cHapter summary When you woke up this morning, what did you do rst? Did you hop in the shower, check your email, or grab a donut rom the kitchen counter? Did you tie the let or right shoe rst? Did you choose a salad or hamburger or lunch? When you got home, did you put on your sneakers and go or a run, or eat dinner in ront o the TV? Most o the choices we make each day may eel like the products o well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. This chapter explains why habits exist, and how they work. At the core o every habitual pattern is a habit loop. The habit loop can be broken down into three basic steps. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode. The cue can be internal, such as a eeling or thought, or external, such as a time o day or the company o certain people (which is why it’s easier to exercise among our running buddies, but harder to study when our riends are in the library). The second part o the habit loop is the routine, the behavior that leads to the reward. The routine can be physical (eating a donut), cognitive (“remember or the test”), or emotional (“I always eel anxious in math class”). The third part is the reward. Not surprisingly, the reward can also be physical (sugar!), cognitive (“that’s really interesting”), or emotional (“I always eel relaxed in ront o the TV.”). The reward determines i a particular habit loop is worth remembering. In the habit loop illustrated below, a mouse learns to automatically run through a maze ater hearing a click, because the habit has become ingrained through a chocolaty reward. Routine
Reward
Cue
T H E
H A B I T
L O O P
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The basal ganglia, a small region o the brain situated at the base o the orebrain, play an important role in stored habits. Interestingly, Interestingly, scientists have discovered that mental activity in this part o the brain actually
decreases as
a behavior becomes more habitual. When a habit emerges, the brain become more ecient (and needs ewer resources) because automatic patterns take over. This chapter stresses that understanding how habits work—or work—or,, understanding the habit loop—makes them easier to control. By changing the cue or the reward in a habit loop, you can change the pattern o behavior.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Why was E.P. described as “a man who would upend much o what we know about habits”? What did researchers learn rom him?
2. What ability do patients with basal ganglia damage lose? 3. Thinking back to the example o McDonald McDonald’s ’s restaurants presented on page 26 in the book, how does this company use cues and rewards to trigger habit loops in its customers?
4. What cues and rewards can you identiy when you’ve you’ve been to ast ood restaurants? What about other settings, like movie theaters, or clothing stores?
5. Using the graph on page 19 as a guide, diagram your own habit loop or entering a password on your email account or your pin number at the ATM. Identiy the cue, routine, and reward or this habit.
6. Can you diagram the habit loop or when you go into the caeteria, or have a meal at home? 7. Do you think it was ethical or psychologists to study E.P.? Was he able to consent to research conducted on his memory and habits? Explain why (or why not) the benets o this research outweigh the negative eects it may have had on his lie.
8. On page 21 the author writes, “Habits are oten as much a curse as a benet.” What are examples o habits that are benecial or detrimental d etrimental in your own lie?
9. The author writes that it is possible to reawaken a habit, and that habits never disappear, disappear, but are changed by new cues, routines, or rewards. Describe a habit o yours that has been changed or replaced. Do you agree or disagree that this habit can be reawakened? Why? What would it take to reawaken your habit?
10. Psychologists have learned a great deal about habit and memory rom studying individuals who have memory decits. How are lessons rom people like E.P. and H.M. relevant to your lie?
11. Make a plan or a new habit you would like to develop. Identiy what you can use as a cue, the steps involved in creating a routine and the reward this new habit will deliver deliver..
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actiVities 1. Imagine that your riends orwarded you an email rom a company that used subliminal messages in iPod audio tracks to help people quit smoking. The company claims i you listen to the messages while you sleep, you can give up cigarettes. Using inormation rom this chapter, explain to your riends why this may or may not be a legitimate way to change a habit.
2. The University o San Diego Medical School (where Dr. Squire works) obtained H.M.’s brain ater his death and published images o it online. You can observe the actual brain o H.M. online here. Explore the website listed above and this article here. Summarize two pieces o new inormation that you learned about H.M. or habits.
3. Beore his death, Eugene Pauly was interviewed on the program Scientifc American Frontiers. You can watch portions o his interview at here.
a. Observe Eugene Pauly in these interviews. What do you notice about him that is consistent with the description o his condition in this chapter? What surprises you? Can you observe any instances o his habits?
b. Imagine that you had visited Eugene Pauly along with Dr. Squire. What questions would you have asked him to learn more about his habits? What questions would you have asked Eugene Pauly’s wie, Beverly?
2 T h e c R aV i N G b R a i N Hw c Nw H
cHapter summary Recall that a habit loop is the pairing o a cue, a routine, and a reward. We learn in this chapter that a cue and a reward, on their own, are not enough to make a habit last. The cue, in addition to triggering a routine, must also elicit a craving or the reward. Only when your brain starts anticipating—or craving—the reward, will the behavioral
pattern become automatic. (That’s why, even i you’re not hungry, once you see a box o donuts it’s so easy to automatically pick one up.) In the early 1900s, or instance, an advertising magnate named Claude Hopkins inspired millions to habitually brush their teeth by linking the cue o “tooth lm” to the reward o beautiul, white teeth. But or that habit to take hold, people had to crave the minty sensation o toothpaste.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Explain how Hopkins changed Americans’ habits. Prior to his marketing campaign, ewer than 10% o Americans had toothpaste in their medicine cabinets, but within 10 years, more than 65% did. How did Hopkins get Americans to change their habits and use toothpaste?
2. Describe Hopkins’ conception o the Pepsodent habit loop. What was missing? 3. Explain why the initial marketing campaign or Febreeze wasn’t successul. What was missing? How was the marketing campaign modied?
4. Proctor & Gamble (P&G) has collected thousands o hours o videotapes o people cleaning their homes over the years (page 53). Why did P&G invest so much money and eort getting these videotapes? Why didn’t they just observe one person cleaning his/her house?
5. Proctor & Gamble sells hundreds o products, including Pringles potato chips, Oil o Olay moisturizer, Bounty paper towels, CoverGirl cosmetics, Dawn dish soap, Downy abric sotener and Duracell batteries. What do you think P&G knows about your habits?
6. How did Julio the monkey’s reward responses change as he became more and more practiced at pushing the lever?
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7. The chapter breaks down several behaviors into habit loops, including running, eating, and cleaning. Think about how you exercise, eat, or clean. What are your cues, rewards, and cravings or these activities? Which ones are the same and which ones are dierent rom those described in the chapter?
8. What is the dierence between the reward and craving in the habit loop? 9. Are habits adaptive or maladaptive? How can you tell? What actors determine whether they are adaptive or maladaptive? Provide examples o adaptive and maladaptive habits in your answer.
10. Think o a common pattern o behavior (i.e., checking your email, taking a shower in the morning, buying a certain type o cereal, studying or your Introduction to Psychology exam). Describe the cue, routine, reward, and craving or that habit. This can be challenging, as we are oten unaware o the cues and cravings in our lives.
11. Why do corporations hire psychologists to help design products and marketing campaigns? What other roles do you think psychology has in corporate settings?
actiVities 1. In this chapter you read about examples o habits in people, rats, and monkeys. Have you observed habits in your pets? Animal trainers oten rely on habit loops to elicit specic responses rom animals (even i they don’t know they’re doing it).
a. Describe one habit you have witnessed in a pet or another animal. I you don’t have a pet, search online or a video example (people love to post memorable examples o their animal’s habits!). You might also want to look or examples o habits that animal trainers have taught to dogs or other animals. Think creatively!
b. Observe the habit closely. What makes this behavior a habit? Identiy the cue, routine, and reward or this habit.
c. What kinds o rewards were likely involved in learning this habit? Would the habit have developed without the rewards?
d. How would you train an animal to create a specic habit? e. What i you were trying to encourage a habit in a riend? How would your “training” be dierent or a person than an animal?
2. Following the Vietnam War, many people were concerned that returning veterans who had used heroin or other drugs during the war would still be addicted when they came home. However, studies revealed that very ew veterans who abused drugs overseas continued using once they returned to the U.S. Why do you think it was easier to kick this habit once they were back in
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America? Although craving is an important component o the habit loop, why isn’t it the whole story? Is craving sucient to produce a habit?
a. We’ve provided links to two articles that you may want to assign http://aje.oxordjournals.org/content/99/4/235.short and http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/64/12_Suppl/38.pd
3. Imagine that a company that plans to develop an app or iPads and iPhones has approached you or help. The app will allow users to post updates on Facebook or Twitter whenever they eat a healthy salad instead o an unhealthy hamburger or pizza slice. The company has asked you or suggestions about how to design and market the app. Ideally, the company wants people to use the app at least once a day.
a. Using some o the principles o habit science, what suggestions would you make? What should be included in how the app is designed or marketed to help users create new habits? Remember that you want to change eating habits AND iPhone habits. The company has requested a one-to-two page memo o your suggestions.
3 The GoLDeN RULe oF habiT chaNGe Wh tnn o
cHapter summary This chapter ocuses on changing habits. The golden rule o habit change says that to change a habit, it is important to keep the cue and the reward the same, while inserting a new routine into the habit loop. It sounds easy in theory, but given the strength o most habit loops, changing behaviors can be very dicult. Belie is at the core o modiying many habit loops and plays a critical role in habit change. For habit change to be
permanent, people must believe change is possible. Studies show that people must believe in their capacity to change and that things will get better to achieve more permanent habit change. Groups can have a powerul eect on belie by providing shared experiences and opportunities or people to publicly commit to change. I you want to change a habit, it usually helps to recognize the cue (“I always want to go to a bar when I eel stressed”), deliver the expected reward (“I eel more relaxed around my riends”), but nd an alternative routine (“Instead o going to the bar, I’ll go to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting”). And remember, your odds o success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as part o a group.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Describe the golden rule o habit change. 2. Explain how the ramework o Alcoholics Anonymous ts with the golden rule o habit change. 3. What did Tony Dungy mean by the statement on page 61, “Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too ast or the other team to react. They just ollow the habits they’ve learned.”?
4. How did Tony Dungy get his ootball players to change their habits? Did the new habits stick? Why did the habits “ail” during the critical moments (i.e., playo games)? What else was needed to make the habits permanent?
5. Describe the concepts o “awareness training” and “competing response” and relate these concepts to the habit loop.
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6. Why do you think it is easier to convince someone to adopt a new behavior i it is preceded and ollowed by something amiliar at the beginning and end?
7. When people try to change their habits (such as quitting smoking or exercising more), how do they typically go about it? How are their strategies dierent than those described in this chapter?
8. Why are habits so hard to change? Think about a time when you have tried to change one o your habits. Was it hard? Were you successul? I so, how did you do it? I not, what should you have done dierently?
9. Can individuals change their habits without the support o a group? Discuss your answer in several sentences.
10. As stated on page 92, “There is, unortunately, no specic set o steps guaranteed to work or every person.” Do you have some habits that could not be changed by inserting a new routine into your habit loop? Why are those habits so resistant to change? What would it take to change them?
actiVities 1. Most modern psychologists discourage the use o punishment to teach children good habits and recommend the use o rewards instead. Punishment is typically ineective because it teaches an individual what not to do, rather than what they should do when a bad habit strikes.
a. Imagine you would like to teach your young cousin to play a ast-paced video game like Angry Birds. You could either reprimand her when she makes a mistake (punishment) or praise her when she scores. What strategy (punishment or reward) do you think will help your cousin learn to play Angry Birds quickly and automatically? How could your strategy infuence your cousin’s habit loop so she can play (and possibly beat you) at the game?
2. Your riend recently read an article about a woman who lost 122 pounds in Weight Watchers. She sent you the article, and is considering joining the program hersel. Read the article here.
a. Then, write an email to your riend explaining why you think she may or may not have success with this program. Highlight which elements o Weight Watchers are most helpul in changing eating habits and sticking to a diet. What parts o the habit loop are most impacted by this type o program?
3. You’ve been playing third base or your sotball team or several years. This season, they’ve asked you to become the coach. It’s really fattering! And scary! You know the team really wants to win the city championship. So you bought this book to nd ways to teach players to bat better and catch fy balls more quickly. Specically, you know that when a right-handed batter is up, he is more likely to hit a ball into let eld. You want to help the team develop a habit o shiting let whenever a right-handed batter is at bat. Right now, the team generally scatters across the eld. How can you help your team?
a. What is the cue or the scattered players’ habit? Are there any subtle cues they should look or?
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b. What is the habitual behavior you would like to change? c. How will you help your team develop a new habit? Specically, what steps will you take to help them develop dierent habits? (Think about Coach Dungy!)
d. Imagine you have established the new habit and the team is winning. Is this habit likely to persist as the games become higher-stakes, leading to the championship? What can you do to help ensure that the team doesn’t revert to old habits at high stress moments? (Create belie )
4. How do eective smoking cessation programs change habits? What are the essential elements or these programs? (i.e., www.smokeree.gov/ or www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/act_sheets/cessation/quitting/index.htm)
a. Make a checklist o the essential elements you want to see in an anti-smoking program, based on the inormation presented in this chapter.
b. Using your checklist, evaluate one or more smoking cessation programs that have been reviewed by the National Registry o Evidence Based Programs and Practices (www.nrepp. samhsa.gov/ and use the keyword search to look or “smoking” or “nicotine”). Or:
c. Compare and contrast the ndings o the ollowing two reviews o a smoking cessation programs. Note the ndings they have in common and any discrepancies. Be sure to evaluate how the three sources arrived at these conclusions and how they include the principles o habit change described in this book. Are you surprised by the ndings? What is your interpretation o the rates o smoking on various age groups and their rates o successul quitting? •
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/actsheet/Tobacco/symptoms-triggers-quitting
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Volpp KG, Troxel AB, Pauly MV, Glick HA, Puig A, Asch DA, Galvin R, Zhu J, Wan F, DeGuzman J, Corbett E, Weiner J, Audrain-McGovern J. (2009). A Randomized, Controlled Trial o Financial Incentives or Smoking Cessation. The New England Journal o Medicine, 360, 7, 699-709. Doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0806819
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Villanti AC, McKay HS, Abrams DB, Holtgrave DR, Bowie JV. (2010). Smoking-Cessation Interventions or U.S. Young Adults A Systematic Review. American Journal o Preventative Medicine, 39, 6, 564-574.
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exndd av 1. seLF-chaNGe pRojecT—LiViNG GReeN Ater reading the rst three chapters in this book, you may have a lot o new ideas about changing your behaviors to improve the quality o your lie, your work at school, or your relationships with others. What i you could use this knowledge to improve the environment and contribute to sustainability eorts? Some possible environmentally-damaging habits that people should consider changing include: leaving on lights or appliances when not in use; driving instead o walking to destinations; using disposable cups, plates, or silverware; using a new plastic bag each time you go to the store; buying bottled water instead o reusing cups; making paper copies o documents rather than electronic; eating ood that has been shipped long distances rather than locally grown. Changing rom environmentally damaging habits to environmentally benecial ones can be challenging, particularly when people (like college students) are busy. To help you understand some o the challenges that accompany such changes, choose one important habit that has implications or sustainability that you want to shit in your own lie. Identiy and describe the target habit, including: Identiy the cue o this habit Identiy the routine o this habit Identiy the reward o this habit Identiy the craving o this habit •
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Describe the damaging eect your target habit has on the environment. In other words, provide evidence as to why it is important or you to change this specic behavior.
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Careully construct and describe the new routine you will insert between the cue and reward o your habit Remember, there are several aspects o habit change to consider. For more ideas you may want to think about the strategies presented in this book or changing nail-biting behavior, playing ootball or selling toothpaste.
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How will you measure your behavior? The specic behavior you choose will determine how you measure it (requency o driving a car, consumption o ast ood, etc.).
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Describe your strategy or data collection. Were you able to change your behavior? Why or why not?
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Finally, create a 10-minute presentation about your experience with this sel-change project. Some ideas or your presentation: What did you learn? What aspects were most challenging? What surprised you about this project? What was the impact o your change on the environment?
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outln fr tudnt rt Environmentally damaging behavior: The habit loop or using disposable coee cups The cue o this habit—Passing Starbucks on the way to class The routine o this habit—Drinking coee rom a to-go cup The reward o this habit—Coee! The craving o this habit—Caeine •
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Describe the damaging eect your target habit has on the environment. Students should research the impact o using disposable coee cups. Various websites provide a plethora o inormation regarding the impact o environmentally damaging habits (i.e., http://sustainabilityissexy.com/). For example, regarding disposable coee cups, student could highlight the negative impact o the manuacturing process.
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Careully construct and describe the new routine you will insert between the cue and reward o your habit The cue o this habit—Passing Starbucks on the way to class Possible changes to the routine include carrying a re-usable coee cup in your backpack, leave or class ten minutes earlier so that you can drink the coee at Starbucks, or making coee at home rom a re-usable cup. The reward o this habit—Coee! The craving o this habit—Caeine
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Data collection would ocus on the number o disposable coee cups used and money saved i the student decides to make coee at home. Data could be collected week by week and then combined and organized into the dierent categories (coee at home, coee out, used reusable cup, and used disposable cup) ater a pre-determined time rame. Drank coee 27 times in the our weeks (at home 16 times and out o the house 11 times), o which 24 times were rom a non-disposable cup (either my reusable coee cup or a mug at home). The average cost o pound o coee is $10 and provides 32 cups o coee. The average cost o a cup o coee out is $2.25. From the data above—$24.75 on the 11 non-home coees and $5 or home coees.
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2. ReseaRch pRojecT: obsessiVe-compULsiVe DisoRDeR Help students develop mini-research project to explore the role o habit in a psychological condition: obsessive-compulsive disorder.
a. Guide students to resources to summarize the nature o this disorder. b. Evaluate the psychological denitions o “obsession” and “compulsion”. Compare the use o these terms in psychology with common usage and usage in the book. You may want to acilitate a class discussion or use a writing assignment or students to explore this dierence.
c. Help students conduct a short observational project. Instruct students to observe how people might use these words colloquially. What do people mean when they say, “he’s obsessive” or “she has a compulsion”? Do they apply these terms to habits? What distinguishes a “habit” rom a “compulsion”? Observations could be conducted o classmates, amily members, YouTube videos or online blogs, Facebook posts, or in another public location (e.g., a mall, library, or student union).
d. Critically evaluate the role o habit in this disorder. You may consider instructing students to create an inormative video to post online to share with classmates or to write presentation or report.
4 KeYsToNe habiTs, oR The baLLaD oF paUL o’NeiLL Whh H m m
cHapter summary On the surace, remaking a multi-billion dollar corporation and training to win gold medals in swimming don’t seem to have much in common. However, keystone habits explain how Paul O’Neill transormed the Alcoa Corporation and how Michael Phelps became an Olympic champion. So, how did Paul O’Neill transorm a huge, “stuck in its ways”, aluminum-smelting company into a prot machine with an impressive saety record? He changed organizational routines, o course! Organizations—including companies, student groups, and entire universities—have habits o their own. They occur across dozens, sometimes thousands or people. Within organizations, habits are oten reerred to as “routines”. And within organizations, as well as individuals’ lives, some habits are more powerul than others. These are known as keystone habits and they have the power to change how other habits work. Making a change in a keystone habit (“going or a run beore work”) can start a chain reaction that over time transorms other patterns (“eating a healthy breakast instead o a donut” and “drinking water instead o coee throughout the day”). As you can imagine, it can be dicult to nd the critical habits that can impact other routines. Once these critical habits are identied and changed, they have the potential to have wide-reaching eects! Much to the shock o stockholders, when Paul O’Neill became Alcoa’s CEO, he ocused on saety routines. (“Why isn’t he directly ocused on making us more money?” shareholders questioned). O’Neill understood the importance o choosing one priority, such as saety, and using it as a powerul lever to create widespread change in the organization. The ocus on saety orced the creation o a new culture with new organizational routines. These changes ultimately spread through the organization resulting in a reduction in production costs, an increase in quality and productivity, and, much to the stockholders’ delight, a huge increase in prots! Keystone habits encourage widespread organizational change in three important ways. First, keystone habits produce small wins. Small wins are accomplishments that stimulate larger, transormative changes. A series o small wins can leverage modest advantages into patterns that convince people that larger achievements are possible. Small wins convert cumulative successes into routines. Second, keystone habits encourage change by creating structures that help other people thrive. Third, keystone habits can create a new organizational culture that embodies new values. Particularly during times o uncertainty, a new culture can transorm behaviors, and make decision making an automatic outgrowth o an organization’s values.
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DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. When Paul O’Neill became CEO, he ocused on saety, much to the shock o stockholders. Describe how the stockholders’ expectations (page 98) during Paul O’Neill’s rst presentation as CEO could be explained by a habit loop.
2. Dene “keystone habits”. What is a keystone habit in your lie? What is a keystone habit at your college or university?
3. Explain what was meant by the comment “government eorts, which should have been guided by logical rules and deliberate priorities, were instead driven by institutional processes that, in many ways, operated like habits” (page 102). How does this comment relate to habits and routines?
4. Describe the habit loop that captures Paul O’Neill’s saety plan (page 102). Then, revise the habit loop to include a dierent keystone habit. Be sure to refect upon other possible keystone habits that could also impact the organizational routines.
5. Dene the concept o “small wins” and relate it to keystone habits. 6. Explain how the exclamation, “Put in the videotape!” that Michael Phelps’ coach shouted, relates to habit loops (page 111).
7. Explain how the reclassication o books into a newly created category (Homosexuality, Lesbianism—Gay Liberation Movement, Homophile Movement) could be considered a small win and how it impacted other actions.
8. In this chapter, “grit” is an example o an institutional value among West Point cadets who successully complete training by relying on certain habits. Have you ever been a part o a study group, sports team, or group at work that used “grit” to create good habits? What was the group? What were the positive habits that resulted? What cues and rewards did your group help you identiy and achieve?
9. Have you ever been employed by a company or an individual that embodied a strong, keystone habit or culture, like employee saety at Alcoa? Alternatively, have you ever taken a class or volunteered with an organization with a similar keystone habit or culture? What was the keystone habit? Can you identiy situations where the keystone habit began to eect other habits or procedures?
10. In this chapter, you read about unsuccessul weight loss programs that required people to radically alter their lives and successul programs that asked people to simply ll out ood journals. Journaling became a keystone habit, causing changes in other unhealthy patterns. In 2008, the United States Department o Agriculture (USDA) initiated a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program or caeterias in elementary schools to provide children with lunch options that include resh produce. On their website, the USDA claims that the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program “can be an important catalyst or change in our eorts to combat childhood obesity”. Could this change to lunchtime habits be considered a keystone habit? Ater reading this chapter, do you predict that this small change to one meal a day could have an impact on childhood obesity? Why or why not? What might be considered a small win in this situation?
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11. Although this chapter ocuses on keystone habit changes that benet employees and companies, could some keystone habit changes be detrimental ? Imagine that Paul O’Neill chose to change the culture to value productivity over saety or prot above all else. Predict how the company could have changed i he had ocused on productivity instead o saety.
12. Does keystone habit change occur quickly or slowly? Why do you think that is? What actors within an organization impact whether change in organizational culture is ast or slow?
actiVities 1. Each year, CNN, Fortune, and Money magazines compile a list o the one hundred best companies to work or (see the 2011 list here). What can we learn about keystone habits rom these successul companies?
a. Look at the ull list o 100 companies. How many o the company names do you recognize? How many would you consider a household name? What does this tell you about the success o these companies?
b. What keystone habits or cultures have these companies adopted that have made them successul? Read three company proles on the website and identiy at least one core value that could be a keystone habit or each organization.
c. Is there a clear theme to the keystone habits you identiy? 2. The ast ood chain Subway has eatured a spokesperson named Jared Fogle in many o their commercials over the past decade. Have you seen one o these ads eaturing Jared, “the Subway guy”? In commercials and appearances, Jared tells his story o losing 245 pounds eating the restaurant’s sandwiches. Since losing weight, Jared has completed the New York City marathon, earned his college degree, appeared in a lm (Super Size Me, 2004), and written a book ( Jared, the Subway Guy: Winning Through Losing: 13 Lessons or Turning Your Lie Around ). What can we learn rom this amous example o keystone habit change?
a. What elements o keystone habit change can you identiy in Jared’s example? (Hint: What do you think were his small wins? How did changing a keystone habit contribute to Jared’s other accomplishments?)
b. In addition to selecting Jared as a spokesperson, Subway achieved a reputation or providing healthy and nutritious ast ood. How do you think Jared’s story may have infuenced the keystone habits o this ast ood chain?
3. Imagine that you have recently been selected to become the president o the Psychology Club or the Business Club at your university. Your goals or the club in the next year are to increase the club’s active membership and to increase the number o hours your club members participate in community service.
a. Identiy a keystone habit or the club that will help you achieve your two goals.
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b. Describe how you will implement change in your organization’s keystone habits. c. Identiy and describe small wins that you hope to experience on your way to achieving your goals.
d. Once your keystone habits are in place, describe other habits within the club that you expect to change as a result.
5 sTaRbUcKs aND The habiT oF sUccess Whn Wllw b a
cHapter summary Willpower is the most important keystone habit or individual success. In the last chapter you learned that keystone habits have the power to change other habits. The best way to strengthen willpower is to make it into a habit.
Sounds easy enough, right? So how is it that Susie can resist cupcakes during a mid-aternoon meeting, while Marie regularly eats two? How can some people make sel-discipline look so easy? The key to their success is that they make sel-control into a keystone habit. They build habit loops that make good decision-making automatic. In other words, they learn to
have more willpower. This chapter builds on the last chapter’s main point regarding the role that keystone habits play in widespread change. People can get better at regulating their impulses and learn how to resist temptation. Similar to other habits, repeatedly resisting temptation can increase willpower as the brain practices a new habit loop. In a series o experiments, Megan Oaten and Ken Cheng ound that as individuals’ willpower “muscles” strengthened, people were able to sel-regulate their behavior in other areas o their lives. In other words, changing the keystone habit o willpower can positively infuence other habits. As people changed their exercise habits or spending habits, these
willpower habits spilled over to other areas o their lives, such as what they ate or how hard they worked. In Chapter 2, we learned about ootball players who were more likely to “choke” at critical moments during a game. People with weak willpower behave similarly. They seem ne most o the time, but their sel-control is more likely to evaporate when they are conronted with unexpected stresses or uncertainties.
So, how do some people resist temptation when conronted with unexpected stress? How do some people marshal their willpower when the going gets tough? How, in other words, do some people make willpower into a habit? One way is they anticipate possible challenges. Anticipation o infection points, or challenges, allows people to plan to deal with pain, stress, and temptation ahead o time. Is it the delicious smell o the cupcakes that is too much or Marie to resist? Or is it that she gets sleepy in the mid-aternoon and the cupcake is a quick pick-me-up? Anticipating these infection points (i.e., going or a quick walk prior to the meeting to prevent drowsiness) allows Marie to choose a routine ahead o time (“When I eel tired (my cue), I’ll go or a walk (my routine,) and I’ll end up eeling rereshed (my reward) instead o hungry or a cupcake.”). Over time, these plans become automatic habits.
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Another reason why some people are better at creating willpower habits is because they eel in control. It is critical or companies and organizations to give people a sense o agency, a eeling o control, in order to increase how much energy, ocus, and productivity they bring to their jobs. Capitalizing on this inormation, Starbucks has trained employees to anticipate infection points and has instilled a sense o control among workers who are trained in willpower habits. And, it has helped the company boost revenues by more than $1.2 billion a year.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Describe the “marshmallow study” that was conducted in the 1960s and the results o this study. What does this experiment tell us about the concept o sel-regulation? Why is willpower a keystone habit?
2. Describe the “radish and cookie experiment” conducted three decades later. How did the ndings o the “radish and cookie experiment” add to what researchers already knew rom the “marshmallow study”? How does this change your understanding o sel-regulation, and willpower as a keystone habit?
3. Dene “infection point”. Think about a behavior you are trying to change ( or example, checking your email less requently, reducing the number o cigarettes you smoke, etc.). What are the infection points or this habit? When are your newly created habits most likely to alter?
4. On page 144, you learned that patients who didn’t write out a plan or recovering rom hip replacement surgery were at a signicant disadvantage compared to people who had a plan to cope with pain. Why did writing out a plans “cause” the patients to handle pain better? Explain the dierence between correlation and causation. What are some other possible explanations or the ndings?
5. Examine the similarities and dierences between Paul O’Neill’s ocus on “saety” and Starbucks’ ocus on “best service” as keystone habits. How do these keystone habits dier? How are they similar?
6. Imagine that you need to construct a habit loop or the Starbucks’ employee-training manual. Diagram a willpower habit loop and highlight possible infection points.
7. What is the LATTE method (page 145)? Diagram a habit loop illustrating the LATTE method or a Starbucks employee.
8. Why do you think that blank pages were included in the Starbucks’ employee-training manual? What are the advantages and potential disadvantages o employees completing the ollowing assignment, “When a customer is unhappy, my plan is to . . .” on their own? What’s an even better assignment to help employees develop willpower habits?
9. Building on the research o Mark Muraven described on pages 149–150, what is the role o kindness or compassion in helping people develop willpower habits? What is an example rom your lie where kindness or compassion helped you delay gratication or strengthen your willpower?
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10. Imagine one o your teachers asked you to teach his 8am class next week. Unortunately, students in this early class regularly show up late. Your goal is to reduce tardiness. What steps would you take to cultivate a timeliness habit? Hint: think about setting goals and planning or challenges (infection points) or arriving at 8am.
11. Have you ever sprained an ankle? I you have, you’re in good company. Over 3 million sprained ankles occurred in the US between 2002 and 2006. Recovering rom this type o injury generally requires elevating your oot, wearing a supportive bandage or brace, and taking a painkiller or two weeks. What are the infection points that might delay recovery? What would your plan look like i you sprained your ankle very badly?
12. What advice would you give yoursel to increase your willpower habits regarding completing class assignments and submitting them by the due date?
actiVities 1. Identiy some o the strategies used by children in the marshmallow studies by observing their behavior rst hand. Watch ootage o children who are trying to stop themselves rom eating marshmallows here.
a. Identiy two strategies the children used to avoid eating the marshmallow. b. Why did these strategies help them sustain their willpower? c. Based on the inormation in this video, do you believe culture plays an important role in delayed gratication (willpower)? Why or why not?
2. Would you take a class to improve your willpower and learn more about willpower research? You’re not alone! Over 100 students pack the classroom o Kelly McGonigal’s Science o Willpower course each time it is oered at Stanord University (home o the original marshmallow studies!). Read more about the class here.
a. Help Proessor McGonigal with her class by creating a homework assignment or her students.
i.
What activities would you assign students to learn more about willpower? Should they read about willpower research, conduct an experiment about willpower, or watch classic ootage o marshmallow studies? What other activities can you think o to help the students learn about willpower?
ii. What are the most important pieces o inormation that students should know about willpower research? Write three exam questions that assess students’ understanding o the most important aspects o willpower.
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3. The President o your university has asked or your help. She is concerned about low graduation rates among undergraduate students. The President has asked you to design a strategic plan to help students graduate. Increasing students’ willpower, she believes, is the key to success.
a. What key elements should this plan include? (Hint: think about the importance o detailed plans or graduation, infection points that may interere with graduation plans, autonomy/ sel agency in creating willpower and developing positive keystone habits.)
b. Write a memo to the President describing three specic suggestions to increase graduation rates using the ideas in this chapter. What exercises should new reshmen complete on their rst day o school? Outline a one-day workshop every sophomore must complete beore they leave or summer break that would increase the likelihood o them graduating. I your school gave one assignment to each junior to help achieve the same goal, what would it be?
6 The poweR oF a cRisis Hw Ld c H thgh adn nd Dgn
cHapter summary It is hard to imagine that any good could result rom a doctor cutting open the wrong side o a patient’s head, right? Or that a atal re in an underground subway could have positive benets? However, at a hospital in Rhode Island and in a subway in London, those crises orced organizations to change their routines. This chapter explains why good leaders oten capitalize on crises to remake organizational habits. Crises, or the perception o crises, can
cultivate a sense that something must change and provide momentum or an organization to reevaluate organizational patterns. Routines, as organizational habits are oten called, provide unwritten rules that groups need to operate. Routines unction as organizational memory and reduce uncertainty or employees. Everyone knows not to request a nones-
sential purchase rom their boss— a huge Yankee’s an—ater the team loses, right? It’s not written down anywhere, but given that the head honcho is in a terrible mood when the Yankees strike out, you know not to go near him. All organizations have institutional habits; some are benecial routines and others are toxic. Organizational habits can be deliberately designed—like the worker saety habits at Alcoa in Chapter 4—or can grow without orethought. Toxic patterns occur when habits aren’t deliberately planned or organizational decisions are made haphazardly. During the turmoil o a crisis, organizational habits are more fexible and open to change. Leaders can use the opportunity o a crisis to deliberately design a new culture and better routines.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Right ater President Obama was elected—and while the 2008 nancial crisis was still in ull swing—the President’s chie o sta said “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. What did he mean? How is this related to the adage that “every cloud has a silver lining”? Refect on your own lie and identiy a crisis you’ve experienced that had a silver lining. Describe the crisis and explain how it led to a positive change.
2. Write down three pieces o unwritten advice about how to succeed at your workplace or university. These aren’t the kinds o rules that show up in handbooks—but, rather, the kinds o tips you would give a riend on her rst day. How have you, or your organization, created routines to make these rules occur? Which routines help you be successul?
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3. Explain how the term “truce” is used in this chapter (page 162)? How does it relate to organizational habits and routines?
4. According to this chapter, could an organization unction i all employees had equal say in how things are run? Some people think that organizations need leaders who cultivate habits that both create a real and balanced peace and, paradoxically, make it absolutely clear who is in charge. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your reasoning.
5. Summarize the toxic routines that contributed to the devastating re that killed thirty-one people in the London Underground. Analyze those patterns and describe how dierent communication patterns could have prevented the tragedy.
6. How did the institutional changes that are listed on page 177 change the routines o the employees at Rhode Island Hospital?
7. Why would a leader want to prolong a sense o emergency on purpose or create the perception o a crisis? Is that ethical? Why or why not?
8. How many times have you visited a hospital or used public transportation? Ater reading about the habits o Rhode Island Hospital and the London Underground, how do you eel about your experiences with hospitals and public transportation? Based on your experiences, are you condent about the services oered by these organizations? Why or why not?
9. Author Shankar Vedantam in his book The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives tells the story o Bradley Fetchet, a victim o the 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Fetchet and many o his ellow employees in the rm Keee, Bruyette & Woods, died in the collapse o the South Tower. Some speculate their deaths were infuenced by the saety habits o the organization. As the author writes, “The emerging school o thought in disaster management was that rather than trying to get everyone out o a big building like the World Trade Center, it made sense or people who were not aected by a problem to stay inside their workplaces, rather than wander out into danger. This wisdom fltered down to every old-timer in the building”. (page 120–121). To avoid exposure to the disaster surrounding the North Tower, Fetchet and his colleagues stayed in the South Tower as they did not know that their building had been damaged and assumed dangers were isolated to the North Tower. What elements o organizational habits are revealed by this policy? What would you do in light o the 9/11 crises to change organizational saety habits in big buildings like the World Trade Center? What written or unwritten habits may have contributed to some o the atalities in the World Trade Center collapse?
actiVities 1. The chapters in the second section o this book ocus on habits within companies and organizations. Workplaces are unique proessional atmospheres that have their own language to
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convey organizational habits. The questions below ask you to consider some o the language used in workplaces and to examine the underlying workplace habits.
a. Have you ever heard the phrase “the right hand doesn’t talk to the let”? What does this phrase mean in the context o this chapter? How could you apply this phrase to the example o re in the London Underground?
b. Have you ever heard the term “whistle blower”? What is a whistle blower and how can their actions be related to the role o crisis in changing institutional/organizational habits?
c. What unwritten rules do these phrases reveal? d. Imagine that you were appointed the head o the London Underground ollowing the 1987 re. The British Parliament has asked you to reorm the organization, and your rst job is to redesign the organizational chart and develop three new rules to keep the trains running, while also making sure another tragedy like the re never occurs. How do you assign responsibility to make it clear who is in charge o various divisions, while also assigning broad responsibility or issues like passenger saety? What would your organizational chart look like? What are your rst three rules? What would you do on your rst day at work?
e. Here is the report that Desmond Fennell wrote ater he was asked to investigate the re in the London Underground. What do you notice about it?
7 how TaRGeT KNows whaT YoU wa N T b e F o R e Y o U D o Whn cn pd (nd mnl) H
cHapter summary Did you ever wonder how coupons or items you already intended to buy miraculously show up in your mailbox? How do advertisers know that you need garbage bags again? Can these companies read your mind? Or, are they spying on you? You may be surprised to learn how much retail companies know about you! This chapter ocuses on how companies capitalize on our shopping habits. Studying people’s patterns has increased many corporations’ abilities to make money. Companies collect data about how we habitually shop. Humans preer amiliarity, and when we are doing activities like shopping, we oten make choices automatically by relying on our habits. So i companies can gure out those habits, they can predict what we will buy. It doesn’t stop
there, however. As you’ve been learning in this book, our habits can be infuenced and changed. Retail stores use knowledge o our shopping behaviors to change what we habitually buy. To increase prots, companies gure out each shopper’s habits and then send personalized advertising pitches designed to appeal to customers’ unique buying preerences. You learned in the last chapter that organizations are more likely to change their routines ater a crisis, when everything is in turmoil. Similarly, people’s buying habits are more likely to change when they are going through a major lie event, such as the turmoil o bringing home a new baby. So, companies use data rom observing custom-
ers to predict when a major lie will occur—such as watching women’s buying patterns to guess i they are pregnant, or observing amilies’ purchases to see i it seems like they are moving into a new house. Once companies have identied a potential lie event, they food shoppers with advertisements and coupons to promote new shopping habits. Bingo! Soon-to-be parents and rst-time homeowners are suddenly buying diapers, baby clothes, new pots and pans, and everything else at a store they hardly used to visit. In addition to ramping up advertising during major lie events, corporations also capitalize on people’s desire or the amiliar. Shoppers, in general, preer amiliarity. So corporations oten pitch novel items in ways that accent their amiliarity. For example, in order to get people interested in a new song, radio stations play old, well-liked songs immediately beore and ater the new tune, so that listeners start to associate the unamiliar melody with amiliar, well-liked songs. What’s more, listeners will also stick around or the advertisements that are sandwiched between those amiliar hits.
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DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. What is meant by the term “mathematical mind reader” on page 184? How do retail companies use inormation to predict how shoppers will behave?
2. In this chapter, you learned that Target creates a “guest portrait” o many shoppers. I you were to create a “guest portrait” or a college student shopping at Target, what kinds o inormation would you study? What kinds o questions do you think you could answer with this “portrait”?
3. Why do companies (i.e., Target) collect data about consumers’ shopping behavior? Is it or your benet or theirs? How do companies capitalize on “guest portraits”?
4. Ironically, when marketers manipulate human behavior to earn prots, it is considered an achievement o capitalism. However, i a psychologist manipulates human behavior to study the process o decision making, it might be considered unethical. Why don’t advertisers and marketers need to abide by the same ethical standards when it comes to manipulation o behavior? Is it ethical or corporations to collect data about your shopping habits without your consent? Why or why not?
5. Ater reading this chapter, what is your opinion o marketing that tries to change your habits? Are these marketing practices benecial or detrimental?
6. What makes a song “sticky” and how does it relate to habit loops? 7. Explain the statement, “Dressing something new in old clothes, and making the unamiliar seem amiliar” (page 204). Why is it important or retail companies to understand this aspect o human behavior?
8. Using the amiliarity loop, explain how you would get a our-year-old to try a new ood. 9. Can you recognize shopping habits in yoursel? Do you turn right most oten in the grocery store? Do you purchase your veggies rst and junk ood later on during a shopping trip? Had you ever thought about your grocery habits beore? Examine your own shopping habits and describe the cue, routine, and reward or two o your own shopping habits.
10. As you learned in this chapter, signicant lie events can trigger changes in habits (shopping or otherwise). Would you consider starting college to be a major lie event? Thinking back on your own experiences during the rst ew months o school, what habits changed? I you have not attended college, or i you did not consider it a signicant lie event, identiy another event that may have produced new habits. What changed, and how?
11. In this chapter, you read about an example o Target using shopping habit inormation to predict habit changes that accompany pregnancy. Having a baby is only one kind o signicant lie event. What shopping habits might you expect Target to identiy or individuals going through signicant lie events such as buying a new home, getting married, or moving to a new city?
12. Read the ootnote on page 197. What is your opinion o Target’s response to questioning about its practices?
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actiVities 1. Have you ever been targeted by a company studying your habits? With your class or a small group o people that live in your city or neighborhood, try a mini-experiment to nd out i your shopping habits have been studied.
a. First, your group needs to select a retail or online store where all (or most) o your group members have shopped—and i possible, where you use a “requent buyer card” or already receive emails or coupons in the mail. It is important to select a store that sells a variety o items. Large retailers such as Amazon.com, Target.com, or WalMart.com are a good place to start. Your group may want to select other retailers that cater to your demographic. Choose one retailer, and go online or into the store and sign up or their email newsletter, their requent buyer club, and any other similar programs. Answer all the questions truthully—let’s see what they do with the inormation you provide. (NOTE: Signing up or a credit card, or making any other nancial commitment, is usually a bad idea. Only sign up or programs that won’t cost you any money, and never hand over any inormation you aren’t comortable providing.)
b. Next, start collecting email advertisements and/or fyers sent to group members. Depending on the requency o mailings, you may need to collect or a ew days or two-to-three weeks.
c. Once you have a collection o advertisements, determine how you will categorize the targeted shopping habits. Working with your group, put the advertisements into categories. For example, does your group receive advertisements or male or emale attire? Products or children or adults? Items or pets or holidays? I your advertising includes models, what are the demographics o the models? Male? Female? Caucasian? Other ethnicities? Do some group members receive coupons or advertisements or ood while others receive advertisements or clothing? Construct a list o three to ve categories.
d. Based on these categories, construct how the “guest portraits” designed by the retailer dier or the dierent people in your group.
e. Identiy patterns in the advertising. Does it seem like the retailer is proling group members dierently? Or do the advertised items appear to be randomly distributed?
f. Look at the advertisement rom Target (to the right). What do you think the “guest portrait” says about the person who received this ad in the mail? Are they male or emale? How old are they? Do they have kids? What season is it? What other products do you think they are likely to buy?
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2. What do gummy vitamins and V8 Fusion have in common? These could both be considered examples o “dressing something new in old clothes, and making the unamiliar seem amiliar”.
a. In the case o vitamins shaped and favored to look and taste like gummy bears (or other kinds o candy), what is the “new clothing”? What are the manuacturers trying to make look amiliar? How can this type o marketing increase purchases and use o the product?
b. In the case o vegetable juice blended with ruit juices to make V8 Fusion, what is the “new clothing”? What are the manuacturers trying to make look amiliar? How can this type o marketing increase purchases and use o the product?
part tWo
exndd av c o R p o R aT e h a b i T s 1. Can corporate habits be shaped to make companies protect employees and still have benecial eects or consumers? Consider the car manuacturer Toyota. Toyota makes and sells several dierent hybrid cars that use less gas and reduce pollution by curbing our reliance on ossil uels and carbon emissions. These cars include the Prius and the Camry, both o which run on a combination o electricity and gasoline. Thinking about part two o this book, apply your understanding o corporate habits to Toyota’s sale o hybrid cars. Imagine you are a consultant who has been hired to analyze Toyota’s business practices. Your task is to write an internal report on Toyota’s existing corporate habits and make recommendations or uture practices that will help the company sell more hybrid cars.
a. In 2001, Toyota published a set o principles it calls “The Toyota Way”. I you search or this phrase online, you will nd many explanations o this philosophy, including the “Five Principles”:
b. Based on what you’ve learned about “The Toyota Way”, what keystone habits do you think Toyota employees are likely to have adopted? Do you expect employees to adopt environmentally sustainable habits? Why or why not? What keystone habits do you recommend or the company? (CHAPTER 4)
c. What keystone habits do you expect hybrid car buyers to adopt? How will these keystone habits, such as using less gas, infuence other habits in these consumers’ lives? (CHAPTER 4)
d. In chapter 7, you read about the importance o willpower and habits. What willpower is needed in developing a habit o using a hybrid vehicle? What infection points might Toyota anticipate among its potential consumers when they consider driving a hybrid vehicle? How can Toyota anticipate these infection points (e.g., avoiding the ease o conventional gas stations, comments rom skeptical riends about the decision to buy a hybrid vehicle)? (CHAPTER 5)
e. What crisis situation could Toyota use to change driver habits and car purchases? How can Toyota use a crisis to increase use o its hybrid vehicles? (CHAPTER 6)
f. How can Toyota use inormation about shopping habits to successully market its hybrid cars? (CHAPTER 7)
g. I Toyota were to create a “customer portrait” o its ideal hybrid car purchaser, what would that portrait include? How would having this portrait allow Toyota to sell more hybrid cars? (CHAPTER 7)
h. How can Toyota use the idea o “making the unamiliar, amiliar” to sell its hybrid cars? How can amiliarity be used to encourage consumers to purchase hybrid cars? (CHAPTER 7)
2. In 1984, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate the President o the United States, Ronald Reagan. When Hinckley opened re on his target, he injured Press Secretary Jim Brady, a secret service agent, and a police ocer. Hinckley had been previously arrested or gun possession in a ailed plot to assassinate ormer President Carter and he had purchased the gun used in the attack on Reagan with alse
identication. In response to this crisis, Congress instituted laws or new gun saety habits. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, or the “Brady Bill”, named or paralyzed Press Secretary Brady. The Brady Bill required a criminal background check or all guns purchased rom licensed gun dealers and orced the Federal Bureau o Investigations (FBI) to create a database o people convicted o elonies or otherwise disqualied rom purchasing guns. To acilitate the creation o this database and to provide time or gun dealers to access it, a mandatory ve-day waiting period was instituted or handgun purchases. Gun buyers needed to wait or ve days to purchase a gun.
a. We’ve learned that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. Debates over gun laws are always very contentious. Why do you think a gun law passed in 1993 (almost a decade ater the assassination attempt on President Reagan)? What is the signicance o calling the law the “Brady Bill”?
b. Based on the inormation presented in the article, how would you evaluate the habit changes that were caused by this new law? In the Alcoa example, benecial eects were measured in reduced accidents and increased prots. How were benets measured in the case o the Brady Bill?
c. What are the values inherent in this institutional habit change? d. Were there other unanticipated outcomes as a result o this policy? (Some argue that the 5-day waiting period was helpul in reducing gun violence by acting as a “cool down” period .)
e. In light o more recent crises involving rearms on college campuses and in schools (such as the Columbine or Virginia Tech shootings), what new changes do you predict in gun saety habits?
8 saDDLebacK chURch aND The moNTGomeRY bUs boYcoTT Hw mvn Hn
cHapter summary The civil rights movement was one o the most important social changes o the past century. Rosa Parks’ reusal to move to the back o the bus served as the impetus or a widespread shit in American race relations. Why? Was she the rst Arican-American person to challenge segregation laws? Certainly not. Using the civil rights movement as an example, this chapter describes the role habits play in social movements. Social movements rely on patterns that begin as the habits o riendship, grow through the habits o communities, and are sustained by new habits that change participants’ sense o sel. First, movements oten start by drawing on the social habits o riendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances. Rosa Parks’ arrest triggered a series o social habits that ignited an initial, one-day protest because
she was deeply respected and embedded within her community. Second, a social movement grows because o the habits o a community and the weak ties that hold neighborhoods and groups o people together. Building on humans’ natural inclination to help respected people, the Montgomery
bus boycott expanded and became a society-wide action because o the sense o obligation that held the city’s Arican-American community together. People who hardly knew Rosa decided to participate because o social peer pressure, reerred to as the power o weak ties. Basically, social peer pressure made it dicult or people to say no. Weak ties are links that connect people who have acquaintances in common, or are riends-o-riends. The habits o peer pressure oten spread through weak ties and gain strength through communal expectations. In other words, people can lose their social standing i they do not heed social obligations. Combining the powerul infuence o peer pressure through strong ties o riendships with the weak ties o acquaintances can create incredible momentum and widespread social change. Third, a social movement will endure i the movement’s leaders give participants new habits that create a new sense o identity and a eeling o ownership. For a movement to grow beyond a community, it must become sel-
propelling.
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DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Rosa Parks was not the rst Arican American to be arrested or reusing to move to the back o the bus. However, her arrest resulted in a series o boycotts and protests. Why? What was dierent?
2. Contrary to common belie, weak-tie acquaintances are more important than strong-tie riends in getting a new job. Why? Explain Granovetter’s research and ndings.
3. Peer pressure involves the social habits that encourage people to conorm to group expectations. Provide examples o peer pressure that are positive. What are some examples o negative peer pressure? How can one orm o infuence—peer pressure—be both good and bad? What does this tell us about how we should train people to recognize peer pressure?
4. Regarding the Mississippi Summer Project activities, what did Doug McAdams nd when he looked at why only some students went to Mississippi to register Arican-American voters while others stayed home? What actors explained the dierence?
5. Describe how the development o the Saddleback Church ts the three social movement steps. 6. Using the three social movement steps and peer pressure, explain the phenomenon o electing the most popular students to a school council. What types o ties might you expect these students to have?
actiVities 1. Ryan White contracted AIDS in 1984 ater receiving an inected blood inusion to treat a condition called hemophilia. People with hemophilia require periodic blood transusion because when they are injured, they are not able to orm blood clots and stop bleeding. Ryan was expelled rom public school due to the stigma associated with AIDS. Because Ryan’s story was widely publicized, it led to the passage o the Ryan White Care Act: a law to provide unding or low-income, uninsured, and under-insured victims o AIDS. In part due to the crisis o Ryan’s case and the global attention it drew, blood transusion procedures—a kind o organizational habit within hospitals and blood banks—were changed to make them saer. Socially, the stigma associated with AIDS diminished as word o Ryan’s experience spread. Read more about this amous case on the US Department o Health and Human Services website.
a. Compare the movement to reduce AIDS-related stigma and Ryan’s role in it to the movement to end segregation and Rosa Parks’ role. What similarities can you identiy? How do these stories dier?
2. The recent Occupy Wall Street protests exhibit many o the characteristics o social habit change explored in this chapter. For example, a woman associated with the Occupy Wall Street protest in Caliornia entered a corporate Chase bank and explained to the teller that she needed to close her account to satisy the demands o the protest. Conficted, the women explained that she actually
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enjoyed the customer service o Chase and did not want to close her account. Ater closing her account and leaving the bank, the woman received applause rom her ellow protestors. How did social infuence and weak-ties infuence the woman’s behavior? Explain how the Occupy Wall Street movement may have contributed to other individuals closing their bank accounts in corporate banks and opening accounts in smaller credit unions. Read the US News that cites Facebook as a driving infuence in banking behavior and a relevant Washington Post article.
a. Based on what you have learned about how social movements grow, do you think Occupy Wall Street will become a prolonged, widespread movement? I you were advising protestors, what would you tell them? How would you expand the movement using strong-ties, weak-ties, and then by giving participants new habits? What new habits would you hope to create?
9 The NeURoLoGY oF FRee wiLL a W r n l o H ?
cHapter summary Some habits are so powerul that they overwhelm our capacity to make choices. Are we responsible or our habits? Do we have control over behaviors like gambling or sleepwalking? This chapter vividly describes the development o Angie Bachman’s dysunctional gambling and the horric murder o a woman by her loving husband. The man killed his wie while he was asleep. He was later ound not guilty, despite conessing to the crime, because the judge said his actions were due to automatism, as sleepwalking and other unconscious behaviors are known. Our ethical culpability is determined by the habits we develop and keep in our lives. As we can all attest, changing habits is not easy! We’ve learned that in order to change a habit, we must understand it—the cues, responses, cravings, infection points, and rewards—and must decide to remake our automatic behaviors through hard work, substitution o alternative routines, belie in our ability to control ourselves, and by becoming sel-conscious enough to make a change. The will to believe is one o the most important ingredients in creating belie that change can occur.
DiscussioN QuestioNs 1. Dene the “central pattern generator” in this chapter and explain how it relates to habits. Speculate whether you think habits would play such a large role in our lives i we didn’t have “central pattern generators”.
2. Analyze the similarities between the customer-tracking systems that casinos use and the guest portraits that stores (i.e., Target) develop.
3. Using Reza Habib’s brain study examining neurounctioning o pathological gamblers and casual gamblers, describe the dierent neurological responses to various slot machine outcomes. Hypothesize why brains respond dierently to the same stimuli and predict the behavioral responses to the win, loss, or near miss or the pathological gamblers and casual gamblers.
4. Have you ever observed a dog choosing a place to sleep? Dogs develop habits o place preerence or sleeping, but these can change. Do you believe that animals that display habits have ree will over their behaviors?
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5. I you watch closely, it is easy to recognize habits in even very young children. What does it take or a child to change a habit? Do you believe children have ree will? I so, when does ree will develop? Or are we born with ree will? Is a baby responsible or its actions? What about a toddler? When do we become responsible? Use examples to explain your position.
6. Do people acting under the infuence o peer pressure still possess ree will? Which is stronger— ree will or peer pressure? Does it vary by situation? Use examples to explain your position.
actiVities 1. Explore the issue o culpability in Angie Bachman’s gambling. Imagine you are on the jury when she sued the casino, claiming she should not be held accountable or her gambling losses. Articulate three reasons why she should be held accountable or her behavior and three reasons why she should not be held accountable. Be sure to thoroughly explain each o your reasons. How would you end up ruling? What evidence do you think would convince you to change your mind? How would you try to persuade your ellow jurors?
